Recipe book for agents

Recipe book for agents

Welcome to Recipe Book for Agents. Here we go through the steps to create a useful external monitoring.

Imagine that you are able to cook an agent. You have learned the basics of the art of cooking (the search technique at NewsMachine) and you have chosen what kind of meal you should cook, say a game meal (watching one of your competitors). You may have even developed some ingredients you intend to have in (written a list of keywords & search terms). In order for what you cook to be good, you must also master more exactly which and how much of the ingredients you should have, as well as in what way and for how long they should be cooked.

In the beginning, it can be nice to have a recipe to lean on that explains in more detail how it can be done. It is not always as simple as it seems. Spreading a sandwich is a bit like guarding a unique company name, it’s not that difficult. However, there are much more difficult examples. Have you thought, for example, that the diaper manufacturers Libero have a brand name that also matches the term for defensive players in football and volleyball, or that there is an Italian bishop named Libero Tresoldi. It is virtually impossible even for the ambitious to post a flawless agent profile on a new topic on the first try. Even if you master NewsMachine’s search technology well, it is impossible to know all the concepts that are in one way or another related to your subject area, how different words can unexpectedly be used for completely different things that you have not thought of or intended, or how different keywords in combination can give unexpected effects. You need to be prepared to adjust your agents in the beginning to get them well-tuned and give good results.

NewsMachines information matrix

Depending on the topic you are covering, you should set up the search strategy in different ways. As a tool for how to think, we have developed the Information Matrix that you see below. It addresses two parameters, information needs and information availability. The need for information refers to whether you as a customer wish to receive a lot of information about your subject or if you want less and more specific information. It affects which keywords you include in your agent. If you want a lot of information, you can do a broad search where you yourself can sift some of the results afterwards. If you wish to receive a few hits, you narrow down the search, for example with the help of many stop words or words that must be included to ensure relevance. Choices about how much you need to limit your search are affected by the availability of information, ie how much information there is about your topic. If there is a lot of information, you may need to narrow down your search more so as not to get too much information, and if there is a little information, you may be able to afford to have a fairly broad search, even though you only want specific information.

In the matrix, we have named the typical information seeker profiles and what characterizes them. We encourage you to think about these two concepts and think about which of the information profiles you are. This will help you in your work to set up your agents. Of course, not all situations fit into these four boxes, but if you know what you are looking for, it will certainly be easier for you to set up your agents so that you get good results. We hope you enjoy it!

Sniper – Right hits and no noise

There is a lot of information available in your area but you only want 100% relevant hits. Great demands are placed on the agent’s settings.

The time optimist – You want to read everything

There is a lot of information available in your area and you want to take part of it in its entirety. Some mistakes do not matter, the main thing is that you do not miss any information.

Flanören – You want to be well informed

You are only interested in being informed about the latest developments, but are not interested in reading everything that is written about your industry. There is some information available and you also just want relevant dates.

Hagelskytten – You want it difficult to define

You want to take part in everything but there is probably some information available, the area is abstract and it is difficult to know all the keywords in advance. You then have to shoot wide and wide with your search and adjust gradually.